


simplify

by pomme (thatghostlady)



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Movie, Spoilers, because there is no way they are coping well after everything thats happened, the ending is good tho dont worry, this is mostly just me wanting to write something retrospective for them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21759322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatghostlady/pseuds/pomme
Summary: “Why’d you tell me then?”“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you’re like my soulmate? I trust you more than anyone, Lio.” That fiery fist comes back all too quickly and Lio feels every breath leave his chest like a mass exodus.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 26
Kudos: 289





	simplify

**Author's Note:**

> [ simplify - young the giant](https://open.spotify.com/track/4bsMM8V87y5igGk6urk6b7?si=OKUu-zsqQniboARrx_UtaQ)
> 
>   
> "nothing disappears  
> even the pain we've been through  
> but all i need is here  
> don't wanna live without you."

“Do you want something sweet?” 

Lio stopped pacing and turned his body towards the couch where Galo was scribbling on sheets of paper, “What?” 

“You’ve been walking around aimlessly for like,” his eyes catch on the clock, “at least twenty minutes. I think something sweet would make you feel better.” Galo put down the pencil he was holding and stood up. He stretched his arms up and let out a soft noise, and almost instantly, Lio’s mind traveled to an image of a cat. One that had just woken up from a nap in the sun, it’s back curving and it’s paws digging into the soft carpet. Belatedly, he realized it wasn’t very fitting for Galo. He was more like a big dog. Or a bear.

Lio watched as Galo shuffled towards the kitchen, offering no explanation as to why sweets would solve his seemingly never ending problem of having way too many thoughts and not enough time to think about them. He felt like everything that has happened in the past week was just a blur of colors and words that didn’t really fit together coherently, and all he could do was just let it happen. There was no way for him to make sense of anything and it felt suffocating. 

The beeping of the microwave caught Lio’s attention and he turned to see Galo dropping marshmallows into a mug of what he assumes to be hot chocolate. Lio feels like he can feel the warmth from across the kitchen, but maybe it was just the way Galo stood there, his hair mussed in more directions than usual and his glasses perched atop his head precariously. It all felt too personal too fast, like Lio shouldn’t be there seeing Galo like this, and something in his chest clenches a fiery fist around his lungs, squeezing every last breath out of him. 

For a fleeting moment, he thinks maybe the Promare hadn’t actually left. That everything tangled in his mind like a sea of yarn was really just his imagination having a laugh at his pain, but then he remembered the feeling of having a part of his soul being ripped out of his body, leaving behind nothing but a chipped nail to prove for it. 

Before he could even begin to process that whole thought for the hundredth time today, Galo was in front of him, holding a mug out to him silently. All Lio could do was stare, both at Galo’s face and at the drink in his hand. He could see the marshmallows slowly melting on the surface and a part of him thinks he could pick out different shapes and animals, like the Burnish kids used to do with the clouds on a calm day. 

Suddenly Lio’s hand is being grabbed and he finds himself being gently pulled into the direction of the living room. In hindsight, he doesn’t think it qualifies as a living room because it’s really just the room that isn’t the bedroom or kitchen, considering all the different furniture in there, but that’s fuel for thought on another day. Galo sits down on the couch first and then waits for Lio to sit down next to him. 

At least, that’s what he assumes Galo is trying to do. He hasn’t really said anything since his first comment about getting something sweet for him, and Lio can’t decide whether the absence of his chatter is welcome or sorely missed. The silence is nice, somewhat, but he’d rather listen to Galo talk a mile a minute if just for the comfort of hearing his voice. Lio distantly thinks he should tell Galo this, and then maybe he’d have something to distance himself from all the thoughts, but before he can do as such, Galo is tugging him down and placing the mug in his hands. 

Lio takes it without a word and just holds it, letting the warmth of the ceramic spread through his palms and fingers. He can see Galo looking at him expectantly through the corner of his eye, and he raises the cup to his lips to placate him. It isn’t until the mug is halfway empty that Lio thinks about why he was even given the hot chocolate in the first place. 

“Why did you say that,” Lio’s voice is soft and quiet, like he was afraid to shatter whatever moment they were having in the silence of the living room. He taps an incomprehensible rhythm onto the sides of the mug, a cacophony of music playing inside his head that can only be heard by himself.

“Say what?” Galo’s arm was resting across the back of the couch, almost cradling the back of Lio’s neck if he were to lean back far enough. The thought is tempting, but he doesn’t know if he’s ready to deal with whatever consequences might occur because of it, good or bad. 

“Earlier. About something sweet making me feel better, why’d you say that.” 

“Oh,” Galo rubs the back of his neck and looks almost embarrassed at the question, “I don’t know. It was just something I remember my mom saying all the time when I was younger.” Lio looks up and is surprised to see a sad smile adorning his face, like a misplaced picture frame sitting on the wrong shelf. It wasn’t supposed to be there and Lio wanted it to go away immediately. Galo, who was so ridiculously selfless it hurt, who always managed to think about everyone else before even sparing a thought about himself, he wasn’t ever sad. At least, he acted as much, despite everyone willing to throw down their life down for him in a heartbeat, if it meant he could be happy. 

Lio knows he is undoubtedly apart of that everyone. 

“What was your mother like?” 

Galo didn’t say anything for a while. Just held his hands in his lap, rubbing circles into the calloused skin. Lio was about to place his hand on Galo’s thigh and tell him to disregard the question, that he doesn’t have to tell him, when he started to speak. 

“Pretty. She was really pretty. Always had her hair up in a ponytail because I liked to tug on it as a child,” he paused to let out a little chuckle, “she always liked to bake things for me and herself, especially on Sundays when we had all morning to do it together. I think I still remember some of the recipes.” There was a pause where Galo stared down at his hands, eyes boring into something Lio couldn’t quite understand. 

Galo began again, this time barely above a whisper, “There was never a day where she forgot to tell me how much she loved me. She’d grab my hands like this,” he reached over towards Lio’s hands and slotted their fingers together, his palms a warm contrast to Lio’s naturally cooler ones, “and she would tell me ‘Galo, you… you’re going to grow up to be something amazing.’ And every time... I would tell her I would, just for her.” He didn’t say any more than that, their clasped hands slowly dropping until they settled between them, neither of them wanting to let go. 

“You’re a lot like your mother, Galo.” 

A drop of water finds its way onto the back of Lio’s hand and as he’s looking up to find the source, he is met with the sight of tears slowly dripping down Galo’s face, like a broken faucet asking to be fixed, “Yeah, I got told that a lot.”

For the first time since the destruction of the Parnassus, Lio does not think. He simply moves on instinct, gently releasing himself from Galo’s hands and reaching up to cup his face. The tears are still spilling out of Galo’s eyes and Lio moves his thumbs to stop their tracks.

Galo reaches his hands up to cover Lio’s and he leans into the touch, his tears unable to stop from pouring out after so long of sitting right on the edge of a cup, a waterfall practically begging to spew out. They both just sit there, Galo’s soft cries and Lio’s gentle hushes the only sounds to be heard throughout the apartment.

And that’s all that happens for a while, just Lio cradling Galo’s face in an apartment he only recently felt like was his place as well. It was slowly becoming apparent that they shared almost everything with each other, this apartment, the food in the fridge, Galo’s worn out sweaters, the experience of almost losing the person you care most about. He didn’t want to think about the implications of what that meant for the both of them. 

“I… Kray…” Lio’s heart seized up at the mention of his name, “he was the only person I had left after everything. I never really had a dad in the first place, so he was like… he made me feel like I could be amazing, too. But,” Galo cut himself off, a sob catching on his throat with nails sharp enough to piece steel. 

Lio didn’t know what to do or say, his mind split between wanting to make Kray apologize for everything he’s ever done or staying here by Galo’s side, making sure he knows how much people love him. How much he loves him. 

Instead, he lets a fire, unfamiliar but not necessarily unwelcome, burn inside him with enough anger to fuel an entire city, “You are more than amazing, Galo, and you don’t need him as proof for that. He betrayed you, everyone and fooled them into thinking he was holier than thou… when he was just a selfish bastard only looking out for himself and his own glory.” Lio spit out the words like they were poison on his tongue. 

He was met with silence. 

For a minute, Lio thought maybe he had crossed over an unseen line, one where there was no turning back and all he could do was keep running forward until he ran into an invisible barrier, but then Galo reached out. His hand wrapped around Lio’s and brought it to his face, a touch of his lips grazing across the back in a kiss so small he could barely feel it. Distantly, he felt like he was a fair maiden, finally meeting the prince of his dreams, but he supposes this was not really the time to think about that.

As quiet as ever, almost unsettling so, Galo whispers into Lio’s hand, “Thank you.”

He was speechless, “No, you… you don’t need to thank me.” Lio tightened his grip on the hand holding his own to show, something, he doesn’t really know what, but Galo seems to understand nonetheless. 

“I’ve never talked about… that with anyone, not even Aina.” Galo breathed out and finally looked up, his eyes bloodshot from endless tears. 

“Why’d you tell me then?” 

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you’re like my soulmate? I trust you more than anyone, Lio.” That fiery fist comes back all too quickly and Lio feels every breath leave his chest like a mass exodus. 

As if Lio wasn’t experiencing an internal crisis almost as torturous as the entire past week combined, Galo continued on, “It’s just, I don’t know, it’s so easy to talk to you, even though I’ve really only known you for like, a total of two weeks. Something about you makes me feel like,” he moves his arms in a wide overarching motion, a small ‘pwah’ noise coming from his lips, “You know?” 

“Like,” Lio mimics Galo, although with a little less fervor, “this?” 

A bright smile illuminates Galo’s face in the dark of their apartment, his mouth and cheeks practically gleaming with the light of a thousand suns, “Exactly! That’s what I’m talking about, you always know what I’m trying to say, Lio.” The tear tracks that were previously painted onto Galo’s face were now gone, as if they evaporated from the pure warmth radiating off his entire body. 

Again, Lio is drawn to the warmth that Galo naturally gives off, but this time it feels right, like he’s supposed to be here in this apartment, their apartment and be with Galo. And he feels that even though it’ll take months, years to truly feel at peace with everything, he was okay with that as long as Galo was by his side. All he had to do was take a look at his face and into his eyes, and everything would simplify.

**Author's Note:**

> bitches make promare content to get free dopamine. im bitches
> 
> i really can not stop thinking about this movie and these two wow. wow. anyways hope yall enjoyed and please consider listening to this [galolio playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/39xVqW2te4wbmw3x2AshSL?si=0tdruJ4JR4yU5CepjNsSQw) me and my girlfriend made together! its good i promise


End file.
